Here is my rambling reply as promised. I have just picked a few posts out from the above but in my replies below, I hope I have responded to most thoughts above. Here you go...
smyrnaquince wrote:We basically need to attract more brewers to the site. I suspect that the male/female proportions of new members will reflect the proportions of brewers in general, as will the proportions for race, religion, gender preference, etc., of the brewing population. Personally, I don't care which of these categories applies to anyone on the site. I just want to communicate with BIAB brewers.
What we should be after is new members in general. I've been spending time on HomeBrewTalk, referring brewers to this site. Unfortunately, there is now a lot of competition with other BIAB spreadsheets, so I am not being very successful about getting people to come over. But I keep trying.
Nice Dave
. I think though at this stage, the site really is not chasing new members. It gets them anyway. What I think it is chasing are the resources to make quality information readily available to everyone. The best thing that anyone can do here at the current time is to answer questions here - don't worry about the other sites atm Dave. Staying up to date and answering questions here is far more important atm. This enables more time to get the tools and info we have here structured and laid out in a way that will benefit many brewers down the track.
As for competition from other calculators, there shouldn't be any. The existing other so-called calculators are truly atrocious. They calculate nothing but volume and in the worst possible way. They are actually totally wrong. For example, one of their usual inputs they require is how much grain you will be using. There is no way, you should supply that number. The calculator should be giving that number
.
I'll write more on this later and provide a link. Not sure when though as this is a massive problem as the most popular result when you Google BIAB Calculator, the worst calculator of all comes up. So annoying, especially when you spend a few hours of time trying to help the writer/s as I have done.
Yeasty wrote:Who knows how many Lady brewers are out there ? Forums are by there nature anonymous, if you want to give your name and gender its up to you. Even then who is to know you are who you say you are. I have no problem with an official invite to Women to come and join us, brewing forums can be daunting environments and some can be quiet brutal at times. I have been on the receiving end of some harsh comments on forums for asking some very basic and benign questions... This is where BIABrewer is different, its very rare to get abuse, (if at all as I can't think of any occasion ) so I can see PPs frustration at the apparent lack of women members, but who knows they may be here after all.
Another thought is that the ratio of male to women members may be on par with the ratio of male to women beer drinkers ?
Anyway, if you are already a lady member let us know
and if you are a lady "lurking" take the plunge and join us.
Yeasty
edit: It would be interesting to see the numbers of lady brewers by location around the world, and I think BIABrewer is the best forum for that as we seem to cover every continent.
I think the major reason why BIABrewer was started was to provide a sensible environment to talk about brewing. You mentioned above how intimidating forums can be. I started out on a local forum at a time when everyone was really helpful. About two years later, the culture seemed to have changed dramatically and kept going downhill. As far as I can see, on all the major forums, that culture continues. Trying to get a straight answer on the most simplest of things is impossible. I have no idea how new brewers get anywhere.
As for women participating on other forums, God help them if the forums are anything like what I have seen. No woman could actually become/remain a part of the existing cultures I have examined or even glanced at. They're primitive. I don't even know what to say here... Lots of wrong advice/info.... Lots of self-serving posts... It's just like Facebook - look at me, look at me, look at me but with the added insult of having pics from "People" magazine (a "girly" magazine) interspersed amongst the posts. It annoys me as I always try to see things through the eyes of a new brewer and these environments show no respect for anyone.
I think I am getting old because the below pisses me off...
1. Self-importance 1: We even get this on this forum. For example, some people ask a question and then ask more and more without giving answers to anyone else or making a donation. It's as though all information in this world should be free to them even if only a few people are taking the time to give it to them. (Getting bitchy now aren't I - lol).
2. Self-importance 2: Just because someone has a few thousand posts on a forum does not mean their advice is correct. Often it is the opposite. Look at the detail (consideration) in their posts.
3. Instant Answers (Facebook/Twitter/Forums): Anyone can give an answer these days but it won't mean it is right. There are more wrong answers out there on these mediums than right ones. A few studies have been done on this showing that the first Google answer is often quite wrong. I think women and the guys we have here who can hear through the noise know this and that is why I am surprised we don't see more women here.
4. If someone knows how to run a poll, they might be able to set something up in Visitors that determines the ratio of female/male readers.
public43 wrote:I'm coming out of hiding here... Sorry for being a wallflower; mea culpa.
No mea culpa there public43. Very good of you to write. I hope the above makes some sense/rings a bell. A part of me is thinking that maybe BIABrewer should start a hidden forum for female brewers for a little while. Who knows, it could be a good idea?
I think that the best answer to your worry about spreading false info around is as follows...
Rick wrote:I still consider myself a noob, public43. I've been pretty adamant with trying to help folks within my experience level, and if I misstep, guys like PP, BB, M_S, mally, thughes have come in right behind me to point out something I might have either missed or misstepped on. They also challenge my methods at times, which is great .. as it forces me to put my process up for scrutiny.
This has been a great learning strategy for me, and BIABrewer is the perfect atmosphere to let yourself be exposed without worry of attitudes.
A good parallel would be playing chess with a grandmaster. No way I'm going to win, but i'll surely up my game in a hurry by mingling at a higher level. In other forums you need to be in a circle or clique for this to happen, which is frustrating. Not here.
I think Rick's post here really rings the best of bells with me.
Rick and many others have an abundance of enthusiasm and a real lack of arrogance. They are the perfect members here because they pass on everything they can, unselfishly, to you. They do it in the confidence that they will be corrected if they get something wrong. Being corrected, to them, is a bonus/learning experience, not a reprimand/criticism. If corrected, they will pass that better info on to you.
And I think that is another hidden but very important part of this site's culture. The great posters here have no problem admitting if they are unsure of something and are very happy to acknowledge when they learn something new. Look at
this post and the one after.
If you have found
the above or anything else of value on BIABrewer.info, consider supporting us by
getting some BIPs!
) do you think you could get them to join this site and at least make one post in this thread (after their first post?) Do they enjoy your beer or help you brew? Will you introduce them to us? Will they join our community? Will they write what they like about our beer? Do they actually brew like stoutgirl5?
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